Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500

 

Hello Angels,

Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 race at Martinsville Speedway produced the Sprint Cup series first 2011 two-time winner. Kevin Harvick showed once again how he is a great closer when it comes to stealing the win. Last week, Harvick only led the final quarter-lap of the race for the win. With Sunday’s win, Harvick led the last five laps – passing crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., for his second-consecutive win.

Earnhardt had a hard-fought battle with Kyle Busch for second place, beating the latter to the finish line by less than half of a car-length.

Congratulations to Harvick on his second-straight win.

There were two more observations for the race — the first one being that the cars and walls are the safest they’ve ever been — and it paid-off for Martin Truex Jr., and Kasey Kahne. Truex had his Napa Toyota Camry throttle stick ending with his car going nose-end first into the wall at full speed. Kahne was the innocent bystander in the crash as there was no way to get out of Truex’s way when the latter’s car ran Kahne’s over in the process. Both drivers hit the wall hard, with Kahne hitting hard on the driver’s side of the car. Luckily, the SAFER barriers held and both drivers were able to climb out of their cars without any assistance from the emergency crews. The hit was so hard on the SAFER barriers that a 15-minute or so race stoppage ensued as crews worked to fix a hole in the SAFER barrier after Truex’s car crashed into the wall going more than 130 mph.

The second observation Sunday is the fact that there were at least four or five driver penalties for mental lapses in judgment on the drivers fault. Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart were penalized for changing racing lanes prior to reaching the start/finish line during restarts and Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson were penalized for speeding on pit road – the most costly penalty to Johnson as he was running second or third late in the race when he caught the penalty. Johnson finished 11th, compared to Martin’s 10th and Kenseth’s sixth-place finishes. Stewart and Burton had additional issues that resulted in their finishing 34th and 24th respectively.

One more personal observation – who is this person who took over Kyle Busch’s body? Has anyone noticed that he is a heck of a lot more poised than he was last year – especially when he’s beating and banging for the wins late in the race. Asked about his late-race battle with Earnhardt – which wasn’t exactly without some beating and banging between the two – Busch took the time to talk to the media and give his obligatory interview, but he was pleasant to talk to. This time last year when he’d lose a race late like he did, he’d forgo the mandatory media talk and go straight to his hauler – and trust me, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. One thing is for sure, he’s one heck of a driver and with this new attitude of his, he may just well be ready to take on Johnson or anyone else for that matter and be competitive in the Championship this year…

With that Angels, even though NASCAR has their first two-time winner this year, CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ FANTASY LEAGUE has another new Angel to be our leader this week.

Mr. Monday, your 9.4 average finish earned you this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL AWARD. All five of your drivers finished in the top-15 with three them in the top-10. Jeff Gordon led some laps on Sunday, but could only muster a fifth place finish in the end. David Ragan, who led the second practice on Friday with his Ford Fusion, finished eighth. Martin finished 10th after being penalized early in the race.  Johnson finished just outside the top-10 with his 11th place finish, while Joey Logano finished 13th to round out your five-driver team. Congratulations Mr. Monday on your first TAA this season.

Mr. X, unfortunately, your drivers imploded resulting in your average finish earning you this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE AWARD. Martin tops your team’s charts with his 10th place finish, Carl Edwards, who led his first career lap at Martinsville, finished a distant 18th. Stewart had a strong car early but faded considerably after his penalty and finished 34th overall. Paul Menard had a tough day going a lap down early and then cutting a tire later in the race. Eventually he dropped out to finish 38th. Truex rounds out your team with his 40th place finish. Your GCA earning average finish is 28 even. Better luck next week!

Vivian, you had three drivers finish in the top-10, two of them in first and second. Obviously your first place driver is Harvick with his second win in a row. Not-so-obvious is the resurgence of Earnhardt who finished second on Sunday. Earnhardt kept it low-key until the end where, like Harvick, saved his equipment until the end. Jamie McMurray started on the Coors Light Pole, but faded early in the race. He came back to finish seventh. Ryan Newman had a tough-go at it on Sunday, starting the race on the outside pole. He quickly fell to mid-pack and eventually cut a tire and finished 20th. Burton, like Stewart, is a mystery to me as he was running up front after serving and negating his penalty early in the race. In the end though, he faded and finished 24th. All-in-all though, your drivers’ average finish of 10.8 earned you this week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ RUNNER-UP ANGEL AWARD.

Pete, you had four drivers finish in the top-15, three of them in the top-10. Newman unfortunately started on the outside pole, but the outside is definitely not where you wanted to be at NASCAR’s shortest race track as there is really only one racing grove there. That said, Newman finished 20th after cutting a tire and going for a spin. Denny Hamlin was favored to win, but like so many other drivers on Sunday, speed was hard to come by. Hamlin finished 12th. McMurray finished seventh, Ragan finished eighth and Clint Bowyer, who led the most laps, finished ninth. Your average finish is 11.2.

Kelly, you had two drivers – Earnhardt and Martin – finish in the top-10 with their second and 10th place finishes respectively. Hamlin finished 12th, while Kurt Busch finished 16th after he stated that he’s been struggling with the half-mile track lately and Newman finished 20th after he fell from the outside pole and cut a tire mid-way through the race. Your average finish is 12 even.

Evelyn, your 14.8 average finish earned you the No. 5 Angels’ spot this week. Earnhardt and Gordon had top-five finishes with their second and fifth place finishes respectively. Unfortunately that’s the good news. The bad news is that Edwards, Newman and Marcos Ambrose had their tire issues or a crash. Edwards finished 18th, while Newman finished 20th. Ambrose crashed out of the race when he was turned by an unapologetic Michael McDowell who said he was tired of being held up by Ambrose. Ambrose finished 29th.

Kris, even though Stewart finished 34th, your average finish of 15 even could’ve been a lot worse had Kyle Busch and Gordon not finished in the top-five with their third and fifth place runs respectively. A.J. Allmendinger led a lap (I believe) at Martinsville for the first time, but finished a distant 14th place. Brad Keselowski had his issues with a blown tire and a brush or two with the wall. He finished 19th though, on the lead lap.

Madison, for you, Earnhardt finished second and Martin finished 10th marking them to be the only two drivers of your five-driver roster to finish inside the top-10. Johnson barely missed the top-10 with his 11th place finish, while Edwards finished 18th, while Trevor Bayne crashed out of the race after having an engine or electrical issue. He finished 35th. Your average finish is 15.2.

Alex, with the exception of Kahne’s misfortunes, your drivers didn’t perform that badly. Kahne crashed out of the race with a 39th place finish. David Ragan tops your drivers with his eighth place finish, while Martin finished 10th, Johnson finished 11th and Joey Logano finished 13th to round out your drivers. Your average finish is 16.2.

CorWin, the combination of Menard and Ambrose is what brought you average finish down to 18.2 this week. Menard finished 38th, while Ambrose finished 29th. Kyle Busch had another great race, but was unable to close it out in the end and finished third. Martin and Johnson round out your team with their 10th and 11th place finishes.

For me, Gordon was my top driver with his fifth place finish. Johnson had a late-race pit-road infraction for speeding and he was unable to recover from it to finish 11th. Newman finished 20th, while Bobby Labonte and Menard both had crashes into the wall. Labonte continued after his, only several laps down to finish 27th. Menard was unable to complete the race and finished 38th. My average finish is 20.2.

Gibbons and Candy Man, you both tie for our No. 11 Angels’ spot this week with your 21.6 average finishes.

You both share Martin and his 10th place finish, as well as Edwards and his 18th place finish.

Candy Man, for you, your remaining drivers of Greg Biffle, Burton and Bayne finished 21st, 24th and 35th respectively.

Gibbons, your remaining three drivers – Johnson, Regan Smith and Menard – finished 11th, 31st and 38th, respectively.

Julie, you didn’t have any drivers finish inside the top-15 on Sunday and your 25.6 average finish reflects that. Edwards is your top driver to finish with his 18th place finish. Newman finished 20th, while Labonte, Ambrose and Stewart round out your team with 27th, 29th and 34th place finishes respectively. Better luck next week.

Speaking of next week, the Samsung Mobile 500 race at Texas Motor Speedway is on Saturday evening.

Don’t forget to check out the ESPN Stock Car Challenge Web site to see where you stack up against the other Angels.

Good luck next week Angels,

Charlie